State of the Georgia Girl Report

Experiencing community service or working outside the home during adolescence offers young people an important view into the power of their contributions to the broader community. For girls in Georgia, about one-third are participating in either experience and most are more likely to engage in community service than to work for pay. Out-of-School Involvement: Service & Work Girls are slightly more likely to be involved in community service than working for pay outside the home. U.S. Census, National Survey of Children’s Health, 2022-2023, Indicator 5.7 and 5.8.

Girls Participating in Community Service and Work for Pay, Georgia vs United States

40%

38%

37%

34%

SOCIAL WELLNESS OF GEORGIA GIRLS

Community Service

Work for Pay

Georgia

United States

Research is conflicted about whether working outside of school during secondary education is beneficial or consequential. A landmark study in this area finds that the impact of working during school years depends significantly on the demand of the job: students with high-demand jobs of more than 10 hours per week tend to show worse academic outcomes, but students in low-demand work commitments often exhibit higher grades, higher motivation, and higher life aspirations than non-working students (Singh, 2007). Engaging in community service has proven to increase social capital of young people, deepen self-understanding, and increase support systems for young people (Flanagan, 2014). In preparing girls for the school-to-work transition or increasing the likelihood of achieving success in post-secondary education, community service offers girls experience and exposure to life outside an academic setting. It’s worth noting the underlying gender bias in out-of-school engagements between girls and boys in Georgia: early in adolescence, more girls are contributing to their communities without compensation than those that are . This early introduction to the worth of work may contribute to the well-documented challenge of the “pay ask gap,” aiming to combat the U.S. gender pay gap by coaching women to ask for their worth (Roussille, 2024).

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THE 2026 STATE OF THE GEORGIA GIRL REPORT